Law Commons^™

What The Awards Tell Us About Labor Arbitration Of Employment Discrimination Claims, Ariana R. Levinson

Ariana R. Levinson

This Article contributes to the debate over mandatory arbitration of employment-discrimination claims in the unionized sector. In light of the proposed prohibition on union waivers in the Arbitration Fairness Act, this debate has significant practical implications. Fundamentally, the Article is about access to justice. It examines 160 labor arbitration opinions and awards in employment-discrimination cases. The author concludes that labor arbitration is a forum in which employment-discrimination claims can be-and, in some cases, are-successfully resolved. Based upon close examination of the opinions and awards, the Article recommends legislative improvements in certain cases targeting statutes of limitations, compulsory process, remedies, class …

You Are Now Entering The School Zone, Proceed With Caution: Educators, Arbitration, & Children’S Rights, Raquel Muniz

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.

Clear Statement Rules And The Integrity Of Labor Arbitration, Stephen F. Ross, Roy Eisenhardt

Journal Articles

Under the common law, employment contracts are submitted to civil courts to resolve disputes over interpretation, breach, and remedies. As an alternative, parties in labor contexts can agree to resolution by an impartial arbitrator, whose decision is reviewed deferentially by judges. Where employees are subject to rules of a private association, they are often contractually obligated to submit their claims to an internal association officer or committee; the common law provides for judicial review more limited than a civil contract but more searching than is the case for an impartial labor arbitrator. Recently, the National Football League and its players …

Collective Bargaining And Dispute System Design, Rafael Gely

Faculty Publications

This article seeks to reestablish the conversation between collective bargaining and dispute system design scholars. Part II provides a brief description of the system of collective bargaining by focusing on the three key steps of union organizing, contract negotiation, and contract administration. Part III does the same for the literature on dispute system design by identifying some of the seminal literature in the field as well as other work particularly relevant to workplace dispute resolution systems. In Part IV, the article seeks to achieve one modest goal and one that is more ambitious. As to the modest goal, this article …

Labor And Employment Arbitration Today: Mid-Life Crisis Or New Golden Age?, Theodore J. St. Antonie

Articles

The major developments in employer-employee arbitration currently do not involve labor arbitration, that is, arbitration between employers and unions. The focus is on employment arbitration, arbitration between employers and individual employees. Beginning around 1980, nearly all the states judicially modified the standard American doctrine of employment-at-will whereby, absent a statutory or contractual prohibition, an employer could fire an employee "for good cause, for no cause, or even for cause morally wrong." Under the new regime, grounded in expansive contract and public policy theories, wrongfully discharged employees often reaped bonanzas in court suits, with California jury awards averaging around $425,000." Many …

Arbitration - Dispute Involving Hazardous Working Conditions Is Within The Scope Of Broad Arbitration Clause Of A Collective Bargaining Agreement In Absence Of Forceful Indication Of Exclusionary Intent; Gateway Coal Co. V. United Mine Workers, Raymond T. Royko

Akron Law Review

The collapse of a ventilation structure substantially reduced the air flow into a mine operated 'by the Gateway Coal Co., seriously increasing the danger of accumulation of dust, flammable gas and possible explosion. Three assistant foremen, whose duties included checking and recording the airflow in the mine, made false entries in their logbooks that failed to disclose the reduced air flow. The three foremen were suspended, and criminal proceedings were instituted against them. While the charges remained pending, the Company, after receiving permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, reinstated the foremen. Ruling that the continued presence of the …

Sports Scandals From The Top-Down: Comparative Analysis Of Management, Owner, And Athlete Discipline In The Nfl & Nba, Jaimie K. Mcfarlin, Joshua S.E. Lee

Jaimie K. McFarlin

This article serves to discuss the current landscape of professional sports discipline and commissioner power in the NFL & NBA, specifically understanding the discipline of management and ownership in the major leagues as compared to player discipline when franchise ownership interests and commissioner power conflict. Furthermore, these particular events illuminate the differences between discipline in professional sports and non-sports contexts.

What The Awards Tell Us About Labor Arbitration Of Employment Discrimination Claims, Ariana R. Levinson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article contributes to the debate over mandatory arbitration of employment-discrimination claims in the unionized sector. In light of the proposed prohibition on union waivers in the Arbitration Fairness Act, this debate has significant practical implications. Fundamentally, the Article is about access to justice. It examines 160 labor arbitration opinions and awards in employment-discrimination cases. The author concludes that labor arbitration is a forum in which employment-discrimination claims can be-and, in some cases, are-successfully resolved. Based upon close examination of the opinions and awards, the Article recommends legislative improvements in certain cases targeting statutes of limitations, compulsory process, remedies, class …

Nlrb V. Yeshiva University: Teacher Participants In University Policy Formulation Deemed Managerial Under Nlra, Valerie A. Moore

Pepperdine Law Review

The development of a "status quo" for teacher bargaining unit certification was brought to an abrupt halt by the recent Supreme Court Yeshiva decision. The author, in agreement with the majority opinion, examines the development of this "status quo" and the cases leading up to and including the Supreme Court's determination that the Yeshiva faculty were managerial employees and thus exempt from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act. Also, the author illustrates the Supreme Court's unfavorable reaction to the National Labor Relations Board's cursory and inconsistent administrative decisions and opinions.

Nearly A Century In Reserve: Organized Baseball: Collective Bargaining And The Antitrust Exemption Enter The 80'S, Nancy Jean Meissner

Pepperdine Law Review

In her comment, the author fashions a compelling argument for congressional elimination of baseball's exemption from federal antitrust laws. After noting that the exemption had been formulated in 1922 by the Supreme Court, the author explains that it has been abused by baseball club owners to create a virtual monopoly over ballplayers through the reserve system. Although the reserve system's control was somewhat diluted in 1976, with the advent of free agency and collective bargaining, club owners are currently negotiating for mandatory compensation for the loss of free agents. The resultant threat of a player's strike has served to focus …

Enjoining Politically Motivated Strikes In Federal Courts: The Jacksonville Bulk Terminals Case, Mark A. Ozzello

Pepperdine Law Review

The United States Supreme Court, in Jacksonville Bulk Terminals, Inc. v. International Longshoremen's Association, acknowledged that a work stoppage entirely motivated by political goals constitutes a "labor dispute" within the Norris-La Guardia Act which is prohibited from injunctive relief by a federal court. In so ruling, the Supreme Court found the Boys Markets, Inc. v. Retail Clerks Union and Buffalo Forge Co. v. United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO exceptions, which allow an injunction to issue pending arbitration in situations where the dispute underlying the work stoppage is arbitrable, to be inapplicable to the no-strike clause in the collective-bargaining agreement scrutinized. …

Negotiations Between The Wga And Amptp: How To Avoid Strikes And Still Promote Members' Needs, Jillian N. Morphis

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article focuses on the collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Writers Guild of America (WGA). The role of the WGA is to ensure the rights of writers are not violated and checks on their credit, legislation registration of their writings and enforcement of contracts, while AMPTP is a collective bargaining negotiating association. The strikes by WGA, the negotiation and mediation techniques are also discussed.

Federal Sector Labor Arbitration: Differences, Problems, Cures , Dennis R. Nolan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Employee Voice, Human Resource Practices, And Quit Rates: Evidence From The Telecommunications Industry, Rosemary Batt, Alexander J.S. Colvin, Jeffrey Keefe

Alexander Colvin

The authors draw on strategic human resource and industrial relations theories to identify the sets of employee voice mechanisms and human resource practices that are likely to predict firm-level quit rates, then empirically evaluate the predictive power of these variables using data from a 1998 establishment level survey in the telecommunications industry. With respect to alternative voice mechanisms, they find that union representation predicts lower quit rates, even after they control for compensation and a wide range of other human resource practices that may be affected by collective bargaining. Also predicting lower quit rates is employee participation in offline problem-solving …

Cooperative Bargaining Styles At Fmcs: A Movement Toward Choices , Carolyn Brommer, George Buckingham, Steven Loeffler

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service ("FMCS") was created in 1947. While an array of subsequent statutory enactments have expanded the FMCS charter, the core mission of FMCS has been, and remains, to assist labor and management to settle their disputes through mediation as well as to promote the development of sound and stable labor management relationships. The vision of how that mission will be realized has changed significantly in response to changes in our society, to expanded knowledge of conflict resolution and labor relations, and to lessons gathered by the nation's mediators over a half-century of work with collective …

Collective Bargaining Agreements In Professional Sports: The Proper Forum For Establishing Performance-Enhancing Drug Testing Policies, David M. Washutka

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The intrusive nature of drug testing implicates the concern over a person's right to privacy. Currently, Congress has proposed legislation which would establish minimum drug testing requirements in professional sports. This legislation is a reaction to suspicions and investigations surrounding Major League Baseball players and the use of performance enhancing drugs. Federally mandated drug testing would raise constitutional issues regarding the players' rights against mandatory drug testing. These concerns could be avoided if drug testing policies are implemented through a collective bargaining agreement, negotiated and agreed upon between the leagues and their players associations. Thus, as previously asserted, collective bargaining …

Collective Bargaining In The Era Of Grocery Industry Restructuring, Richard W. Hurd

Richard W Hurd

[Excerpt] As UFCW international and local leaders know from first hand experience, there have been dramatic changes in the retail grocery industry over the past 15 years. Of most direct relevance to the collective bargaining environment, the absolute size of key corporations has increased and economic power in the industry has become more concentrated. Influenced by the spread of Wal-Mart's grocery operations, established companies like Kroger, Safeway, Supervalu, and Loblaw have pursued aggressive merger and market expansion strategies. Further complicating the situation has been the success of other alternative format grocers (such as Costco, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and BJ's), …

Professional Sports League Commissioners' Authority And Collective Bargaining, Matthew J. Parlow

Matthew Parlow

Brief Amicus Curiae Of The National Academy Of Arbitrators In Support Of Respondents, 14 Penn Plaza V. Pyett, No. 07-581 (U.S. June 27, 2008), James Oldham

U.S. Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Interest Arbitration Clauses In Sec. 8(F) Pre-Hire Agreements: Effective For Achieving Genuine Collective Bargaining Or Enabling Parties To Underhandedly Gain Majority Bargaining Power, Thomas Riske

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Sheet Metal Workers' International Ass'n, Local Union No. 2 v. McElroy's Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit considered whether an employer was required to submit to interest arbitration with a union under the pre-hire agreement entered into by the parties. The applicability of the statutory standards for pre-hire agreements to bargained-for labor and employment contracts is an essential element of this case. When interpreting federal statutory law, the majority of jurisdictions permit unilateral repudiation upon the expiration of a pre-hire agreement and a small minority of jurisdictions allow for the agreement to be repudiated …

Revolution In Law Through Arbitration, The Eighty-Fourth Cleveland-Marshall Fund Visiting Scholar Lecture , Thomas E. Carbonneau

Cleveland State Law Review

My subject is arbitration. I explore how its re-emergence during the last forty years has revolutionized the thinking about, and the practice of, law. The development of a "strong federal policy favoring arbitration" cast aside traditional acceptations about law and adjudication. The rule of law-the human civilization associated with law and the legal process-has been profoundly, perhaps irretrievably, altered by the rise of arbitration. The landmark cases in labor and employment arbitration-Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Company (the "old time religion") and Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corporation (the "new age"thinking)-attest to the enormous distance that separates past and present concepts of legal …

Beyond The Box Score: A Look At Collective Bargaining Agreements In Professional Sports And Their Effect On Competition, Ryan T. Dryer

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Most sports fans have at least the limited understanding that collective bargaining agreements govern the employer-employee relationships between the owners of professional sports teams and players' associations. Indeed, sports have become a big business in the United States, and the media coverage of sports has extended beyond reporting statistics and scores to include all dealings associated with the business.' Every year (at various times depending on the sport), fans are bombarded with numbers detailing signing bonuses, salary cap implications, arbitration results, incentive-laden contracts, and a multitude of other terms that boggle the mind of the layperson. As most sports fans …

Gilmer In The Collective Bargaining Context, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

Can a privately negotiated arbitration agreement deprive employees of the statutory right to sue in court on claims of discrimination in employment because of race, sex, religion, age, disability, and similar grounds prohibited by federal law? Two leading U.S. Supreme Court decisions, decided almost two decades apart, reached substantially different answers to this questionand arguably stood logic on its head in the process. In the earlier case of Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co., involving arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement, the Court held an adverse award did not preclude a subsequent federal court action by the black grievant alleging racial discrimination. …

The Changing Role Of Labor Arbitration (Symposium: New Rules For A New Game: Regulating Employment Relationships In The 21st Century), Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

A quarter century ago, in a provocative and prophetic article, David E. Feller lamented the imminent close of what he described as labor arbitration's "golden age." I have expressed reservations about that characterization, insofar as it suggested an impending shrinkage in the stature of arbitration. But Professor Feller was right on target in one important respect. Labor arbitration was going to change dramatically from the autonomous institution in the relatively self-contained world of union-management relations which it had been from the end of World War II into the 1970s. When the subject matter was largely confined to union-employer agreements, arbitration …

Contract Reading' In Labor Arbitration, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Articles

A quarter century ago, I used the phrase "contract reader" to characterize the role an arbitrator plays in construing a collective bargaining agreement. This phrase has almost invariable been misunderstood to refer to reading or interpreting the contract. When I spoke of the "contract reader," it was in the context of judicial review of an award. My point was this: When a court has before it an arbitrator's award applying a collective bargaining agreement, it is as if the employer and the union had signed a stipulation stating: "What the arbitrator says this contract means is exactly what we meant …

Mandatory Arbitration Of Statutory Claims In The Union Workplace After Wright V. Universal Maritime Service Corp., Daniel Roy

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rustic Justice: Community And Coercion Under The Federal Arbitration Act, Katherine V.W. Stone

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Arbitration clauses are appearing in a wide variety of consumer transactions, including routine product purchase forms, residential leases, housing association charters, medical consent forms, banking and credit card applications, and employment handbooks. In the past fifteen years, the Supreme Court has reinterpreted the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) so as to grant tremendous deference to private arbitral tribunals. By doing so, it has altered the landscape of civil litigation, taking many consumer claims out of the legal system and relegating them to private tribunals. In this Article, Professor Stone assesses the recent trend toward the privatization of civil justice in light …

Arbitration Of Workplace Discrimination Claims: Federal Law And Compulsory Arbitration, Norris Case

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Arbitration, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Book Chapters

The law did not look kindly on arbitration in its infancy. As a process by which two or more parties could agree to have an impartial outsider resolve a dispute between them, arbitration was seen as a usurpation of the judiciary' sown functions, as an attempt to "oust the courts of jurisdiction." That was the English view, and American courts were similarly hostile. They would not order specific performance of an executory (unperformed) agreement to arbitrate, nor grant more than nominal damages for the usual breach. Only an arbitral award actually issued was enforceable at common law. All this began …

Head'em Off At The Impasse: A Victory For Management In The War To Implement Its Last Best Offer - Mountain Valley Educational Ass'n V. Maine Sad No. 43, Thomas C. Albus

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The impasse doctrine in collective bargaining allows limited unilateral action by an employer when a good-faith deadlock in negotiations is reached between the employer and employees' representatives. This doctrine is a judicial invention used to reconcile the dual mandate of the National Labor Relations Act: to enforce the duty of good-faith bargaining while not compelling parties to accept agreements or make concessions. Traditionally, the impasse doctrine has been viewed as a tool to promote an ongoing bargaining process; more recently, it has been viewed as a terminal point in the negotiation process. By broadening the definition of impasse, courts ascribing …